BGleas

Agree, Philly is going to be good for a long time. Embiid is ridiculous and Simmons is just going to get better as he develops a perimeter game. Will be interesting what happens though if Reddick, Belinelli and Illyasova all leave. They will have some holes to fill. I really hope they don't get LeBron, it will completely stunt Simmons growth, and I don't think it will go well. I agree with you on the Pacers as well. Vic is just going to get better as he gets more comfortable being a star and they have a nice supporting cast. It would be helpful if they can sign a fringe star to accompany him though, just a reliable scorer to take some pressure off. Not sure I agree with you on the talent around him or him being a better star than anyone on Boston. I love Vic, Kyrie is better though, and the supporting cast of Horford, Brown, Taytum and Hayward is better than anyone the Pacers have around Vic. I may have misinterpreted your thought there though? Taytum is going to be a star in his own right. He just passed Kobe last night for the youngest player ever to have 4 straight 20-point playoff games. Dude is going to be a perennial all-star at some point. The Bucks have good pieces, but I think if they don't make some playoff noise really soon that Giannis is going to look to bolt when his contract is up. He won't want to toil in Milwaukee being a first round exit every year.

I can agree with that. I’ve never really considered the Raptors a real serious threat. Obviously I’m a homer, but I think if fully healthy the Celtics would be going to the Finals.

The Raptors are not the best team in the East. They had the best record because of injuries (Celtics) and some upheaval (Cavs) to other teams.

Speaking of Crawford, he just became the first non-Ball family member to sign with Big Baller Brand.

McMillian should definitely be in the conversation. I’ll be a homer too though, in the case for Stevens/the Celtics, it’s not just Hayward they’ve played without. Daniel Thies and Marcus Smart have been out for weeks. Kyrie is out for weeks. Horford has missed considerable time, as has Marcus Morris. They just went 4-0 on a West Coast trip playing without 6 of their top 9. It’s really incredible that Stevens has them #2 in the East with still a chance to get the #1 seed, and that’s all with only 4 guys back from last years team.

I love Brown. I think Tatum is going to be a stud, but if the Celtics ever got a chance to make a trade for someone like Anthony Davis and had to pick, I think Brown might be the one you keep.

Yeah, Brown would guard Derozan. I haven’t seen a Celtics-Raptors game this year so not sure who OG defended. Tatum is a better pure scorer than Brown, but at this point in their careers the Celtics run more offense/play making through Brown. Tatum’s role is increasing but has been more scoring off reversals, etc., so as much creating.

Was a great read! im with you, going to be very fun to see how he develops. Biased as a Celtics fan, but two guys I’m really looking forward to watching the next couple years are OG and Jaylen Brown. Both long, athletic guys that are already eliteish defensively, both sort of intellectual guys, so going to be fun to see how they evolve offensively. Both have Kawai/Paul George potential (keyword potential), but going to depend on how good they can become play makers and shot makers. Really excited to watch both develop, and could be a really matchup for years to come between Toronto and Boston.

He’s playing crunch time minutes too. It was the same in Houston last year. I think with Houston he was just a victim of them going all-in for a title. As I type, he just made another fantastic baseline drive and finish.

Watching Celtics-Knicks, Troy is playing well. Just had a tip-in dunk of a Trey Burke miss and has made a couple other nice plays.

Gilbert holds a huge amount of blame as well, no doubt. He’s never given a second contract to any GM the Cavs have had since he owned the team. LeBron holds a huge amount of blame as well for never truely committing back to Cleveland, he basically been on a 1-year deal for four years, and he holds some blame for how the Kyrie relationship detoriated.

I think Pop would take him in a heartbeat, but agree about the Kawai factor you never know how he would receive it. Since he's already been to two Finals and obviously won one with the Duncan/Parker crew, he may be in the phase of his career where he's more concerned with proving he can be "the man" than actually winning titles. Not sure how that fly's in SA though. On LeBron in generally, I think he comes off terrible in how he's treated Cleveland. I know they're supposed to be forever grateful that he delivered a title, but he's really jerked that franchise around for most of his career. In his defense, they surrounded him with crap his first tenure there, but this time they've done almost everything he's asked and that fact that he won't commit or waive his trade clause if he is planning on leaving, has completely handcuffed them. I also have to due my homer routine and give a shout-out to Ainge and Stevens. I mean, Ainge took a 50+ win team that won the East (regular season) last year and traded 3 of it's starters (Bradley, IT, Crowder) and made the team better. The 3 starters he traded have now all, within 7 months, been traded again by the teams Boston traded them too. The Kyrie trade was brilliant. IT was damaged goods, Brown/Taytum are better than Crowder, and the Brooklyn pick is going to be worse than the pick Ainge got from trading Fultz (who is mysteriously not playing) for Taytum.

Add to it, I think LeBron has always wanted to play for a really great coach. I think playing for Pop would really appeal to LeBron. Spoelstra is good, but was really young in his career when LeBron was there. I think LeBron sometimes envy's that Jordan and Kobe had a guy like Phil and he's had Silas, Brown, Blatt and Lue.

Washington won't have the cap space. They're tied up into Wall, Beal and Porter. Miami isn't a title contender right now, but Riley can be a magician at times, you never know.

I think Houston and SA will make big pushes. LeBron and Paul are close as we all know, and Daryl Morey is a GM that is creative enough to find a way to make it happen. I wouldn't discount SA either, which could be a better fit than Houston, just because Kawai doesn't have to have the ball all the time and while he's supremely talented, would probably be more open to playing second fiddle than Harden. There's probably a team that will come out of nowhere and content as well. Don't discount Miami?

I actually think the Cavs did about as well as they could today. Seemed like a long shot, but I think they managed to get better today, but also get younger and more athletic for a post-LeBron future. IMO, Clarkson, Nance, Hill and Hood are a better fit for Cleveland/LeBron than the guys they shipped out. I love IT and Crowder, but Crowder had struggled this year for whatever reason, and IT is too injured and too much of a defensive liability. Hill is certainly a drop-off from IT offensivelty, but he puts a shooter alongside LeBron and as you mentioned he's a much better defensive player than IT. Clarkson can straight get buckets, and Hood and Nance are promising young, athletic players. That's also a decent (not great or anything like Boston, Philly or Milwaukee) core along with the Brooklyn pick and Cleveland's own 1st rounder to begin rebuilding when LeBron leaves. I'd say Boston and Toronto are now the clear favorites, but I do like what Cleveland did here.

It was pretty clear he did not mesh well with LeBron, though it seems they didn't really give him a chance. I feel bad for IT, he was fantastic for Boston, though he did bring some of this on himself. Maybe understandably given his success, but it started with his comments last offseason about Boston "backing up the Brinks truck" for him, and then just this week he called out the Cavs coaches, and has also been really outspoken about the Cavs chemistry issues. While you have to respect the player he's turned himself into, there aren't a lot of teams that want to lineup to give a 29/30 year old, 5'9" (being generous) scoring point guard that is literally the worst defensive player in the NBA, a max contract. It's just a shame that he felt he had a home in Boston, and in just a matter of months he's back to being a journeyman. Meanwhile, while I don't hate it as a Celtics fan, it's a shame that LeBron is literally holding the entire Cavs organization hostage. There is nothing they can do about it, as LeBron won't commit to them and also won't waive his no trade clause. It's all within his rights of course, but it's pretty bush league IMO.

Ugh, Blake must be ticked. Who would want to move from LA to Detroit? I guess upside is you’re now in the East which is easier than the West

It’s also kind of silly too to say PG is clearly better than Klay because he’s “led” a team and Klay hasn’t. Klay hasn’t been a franchise player, no, but teams have tried to trade their franchise players for him and Golden State always said no because they know how good he is. Kyrie had never really led a team either (I wouldn’t really count his first 3 years) but now has the Celtics leading the East. I don’t think he all of the sudden got better, he just hadn’t had the opportunity yet.

Yes, PG is a great player, and a two-way player at that. I think it's a little hyperbole to call him the best 2-way player in the league. Some of that is because Brooks was about to play OKC, so that's what you do, pump up the guy you're about to play because the media is asking, and there's a groundswell because Westbrook made him the snub-du-jour of the All-Star Game. But yes, he is a great two-way player. Other great two way players are Klay, Kawai, LeBron, Giannis, and a few more. I'm just not understanding what PG has proven that Klay hasn't? No, Klay hasn't been "the man" on a team, but PG has never proven he can be a key piece on a title team either. We have no idea if PG can come through on the biggest stage there is, Klay has. To be honest, I don't really believe what I said in the previous paragraph (about PG being able to come through in the Finals), but I think it's as silly as saying we can't say Klay is on PG's level simply because he hasn't had the chance to do it "himself". Klay is a great player and PG is a great player. Neither is leading a team to a title as "the man".

This was my point. I wasn't meaning to say Klay is better than PG, I meant they're comparable players (not position/skill wise, but in terms of their ranking in the league/overall talent). Klay is one of those guys that doesn't get a ton of pub because of Curry and now also Durant, and because Green is so outspoken, but he's hugely respected as a top talent in the league. Before trading him to Cleveland, Minny wanted to trade Love to G.S for him but G.S turned it down.

I don't think you are winning a title with PG or Klay as your best player. As #2 guys they are pretty comparable. As a #2 in GS Klay has won a title and the following year was the #2 on a team that has the best record in NBA history. PG is now playing next to an MVP in OKC, we'll see how successful that turns out.

Paul George is clearly better than Draymond Green. I'm not even a big PG fan, I didn't want the Celtics to trade for him (though contract had a lot to do with that), but if I was starting a team and had a choice between PG and Green to start my team I'm taking PG every time. I think Klay and PG is debateable. Klay is one of the more underrated stars in the league, even more so since Durant went to GS, but people forget that he was the 2nd best player on a team that won the title and the next year broke the record for most wins and lost the title in 7. Klay Thompson is a stud.

I'm pretty sure Steph Curry had no say in who the reserves are. He gets to pick his team as a captain among who was selected, but he had no say in who was selected for the All-Star Game.

No. The players were selected the same as always. 12 East/12 West. Now the captains can select whoever they want, though the starters have to be selected before the reserves. But the 24 players are still 12/12 from each conference with the same position requirements as always.